Foreign articles trap



Feb. 22, 1966 K. D. SALISBURY ETAL 7 FOREIGN ARTICLES TRAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 10, 1961 Feb 1966 K. D. SALISBURY ETAL 3,236,386

FOREIGN ARTICLES TRAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 10, 1961 United States Patent 3,236,336 FOREIGN ARTICLES TRAP Keith D. Salisbury, Stevensville, and Charles R. Mischke, St. Joseph, Mich, assignors to Whirlpool Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 130,612 3 Claims. (Cl. 210532) This invention relates to a trap for intercepting solid foreign particles in a liquid flow passage and relates particularly to such a trap for the liquid flow passage of an automatic washer-dryer combination household appliance.

In many types of apparatus and particularly in household washer-dryer combinations liquid is caused to flow in a path. In the combination washer-dryer the liquid is circulated in a closed path before being discharged to a drain at the completion of the washing cycle. In such a combination there are often foreign articles such as hairpins, safety pins, coins, toothpicks, nails and the like which are carried by the liquid. The improved trap of this invention successfully intercepts these solid foreign articles so that they can be later removed. The trap of this invention is so designed that it does not prevent the substantially free flow of the liquid and does not have to be replaced after every operation of the combination but only after several operations.

One of the features of this invention therefore is to provide an improved trap for solid foreign articles in a liquid system such as that occurring in a combination washerdryer household appliance.

Other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of one embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Of the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view of the bottom portion of a combination washer-dryer home appliance embodying the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a detail of a trap embodying the invention.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional elevational view taken substantially along line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a detail plan view of the cup of the trap.

FIGURE 5 is a detail plan view of the cup cover of the trap but omitting the attached handle shown in FIG- URE 3.

FIGURE 6 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 66 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 7 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 77 of FIGURE 5.

The invention is illustrated in conjunction with a washerdryer combination domestic laundry appliance of the type illustrated in greater detail in the William F. Scott et al. co-pending patent application Serial No. 97,899, filed March 23, 1961, now Patent No. 3,190,447, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

This washer-dryer combination in the lower fragmentary vertical section in FIGURE 1 comprises an outer cabinet 10, a bottom plate 11 forming a part of the cabinet and an inner base frame 12 supported on spaced legs 13. Inwardly of the cabinet is located a fluid receiving casing 14 that is supported by front plate member 15 attached to the casing front wall 16. The plate member 15 is itself supported on a plate member 17 that extends up- 3,235,385 Patented Feb. 22, 1966 wardly from a base frame channel member 18a of the base frame 12.

An access opening is provided in the casing front wall 16 with this opening being defined by a circular inwardly extending rib 18 formed in the sheet metal front wall 16. The opening formed by the rib 18 is adapted to be closed by a door 19 which seats against a flexible gasket 20 that is attached to the edge of the casing front wall 16 that defines the access opening 21.

Rotatably mounted within the casing 14 is a perforated drum 22 (the perforations not shown) with the drum having a rear wall 23 located inwardly of the casing rear wall 24. The drum is also provided with a front wall 25 having an outwardly extending annular mouth 26 surrounding the casing rub 18. As illustrated, the perforated drum 22 contains spaced imperforate wall portions 27 on its periphery opposite which are located liquid balancing receptacles 28 whose structure and operation are described in greater detail in the above-mentioned co-pending William F. Scott et a l. application. These balancing receptacles each include a forwardly extending spout 29 and a bracket member 30 that bears against a gasket 31 held by a flange member 32 that is mounted on the drum front wall 25. Immediately inwardly of the spout 29 is a collector ring 33 also mounted on this front Wall 25.

The rear Wall 24 of the casing 14 has a single support member 34 fixedly secured such as by welding thereto. A rear leg (not shown) is attached to the member 34 and cooperates with the two front legs 13 to form a three point suspension for the machine. The casing includes a bottom 35 in which is located a sump 36 receiving the foreign articles trap or strainer forming the basis of this invention. The trap functions by liquid flowing from the casing 14 in the manner described in the above William F. Scott et al. copending application and through the trap and out a drain conduit 37.

Liquid flow through the sump 36 and the foreign article strainer 46 therein and out the drain port of conduit 37 is produced by a pump 38 having an inlet 39 connected to the drain conduit 37 by a collar 40. Pump 38 is also provided with an outlet 41. The outlet 41 has a conduit (not shown) connected thereto to deliver pressurized fluid from the pump 38 to the machine water system. The pump 38 is of the centrifugal type and contains an impeller (not shown) driven by a shaft (also not shown). The pump shaft is driven at a constant speed by the machine drive system that forms no part of this invention.

The foreign articles trap is illustrated in detail in FIG- URES 2-7. As is shown in FIGURE 3, the trap assembly includes a sump or receptacle 42 of flexible rubber or the like extending downwardly through a drain opening 43 in the bottom 35 of the casing 14. The sump 42 is provided With an outwardly extending annular rim 44 that is clamped by means of fastening bolts 45 to the portion of the casing bottom 35 surrounding the opening 43. The bolts bear against a metal annular collar so as to press the rim 44 between the collar 50 and the portion of the casing bottom surrounding the opening 43. This clamping serves to seal the rim 44 to the casing bottom so as to prevent liquid leakage therebetween.

Resting freely within the sump 42 and removable therefrom is a strainer cup 4-6 having spaced vertically extending inner and outer walls 47 and 48 that are joined at the bottom 59 but are open at their upper portions to define an annular space and foreign article trap compartment 49 within these walls. Mounted on the top portion of the outer wall 48 of the cup 46 and extending across the top portion of the outer wall 48 of the inner wall 47 in spaced relationship to define a restricted flow passage interconnecting the trap 49 and the conduit defined by the endless inner wall 47 is a cover 51 provided with a handle 52 attached to the center of the cover as by a screw 53. The imperforate cover 51 includes a downwardly extending overhanging undulated flange 54 that extends into the top of the annular space 49 and that is spaced outwardly of the undulated inner wall 47 and inwardly of the outer wall 48 of the cup except at three areas defined by three outwardly projecting spurs 55 on the cover 51. These spurs 55 are adapted to engage similarly spaced openings 57 in an outer annular rim 58 on the top of the outer wall 48 of the cup. This cup rim rests on top of the collar 50 to support the bottom 59 of the cup above the bottom 60 of the receptacle 43. This permits fluid flow therebetween.

The cover 51 is releasably attached in a snap fit connection to the cup 46 at three points immediately beneath the spurs 55. In the illustrated embodiment this is provided by having small outward projections 61 on the flange 54 of the cup engaged beneath small inward projections 62 on the inner surface of the outer wall 48 of the cup. The cup and cover being releasably attached may be removed from and inserted in the receptacle 42 as a unit.

In order to increase the cross sectional area of the flow path the inner wall 47 of the cup and the corresponding portions of the rim 54 of the cover are undulated or corrugated.

The removable cup 46 and cover 51 combination is removed from the interior of the laundry appliance through an access opening (not shown) covered by a removable cover (not shown) in the rotatable drum 22. This removable cover is located in the perforate portion of the outer periphery of the drum 22 between two of the drum balancing receptacles 28. Thus, when the trap needs to be emptied it is only necessary to rotate the drum 22 to where the access opening in the drum periphery is opposite the sump 36, remove the cover and reach in through the casing opening 21 and access opening to remove the cup 46 and cover by the handle 52.

In operation, water drawn by the pump 38 through the sump 36 passes down around the upper surface of the cover 51 into the annular space 49 where it makes a 180 turn and passes up through the restricted passage provided between the flange 54 and the upper portion of the inner wall 47 of the cup. From here it makes a reverse 180 turn and flows down through the hollow interior or conduit 63 defined by the endless wall 47 of the cup 4-6. From the bottom of this cup the liquid flows around the bottom of the cup where it is spaced from the bottom 60 of the receptacle and out the drain port of conduit 37. During the first 180 turn any heavier than water foreign articles such as coins, pins and nails, drop to the bottom of the annular space 49. Items such as toothpicks, matches, paper clips, safety pins and bobby pins are not able to manipulate the turn between the top of the wall 47 and the bottom surface of the top 51 and are somewhat restrained by flange 54 from leaving cup 46. Thus, these items are trapped in the space 49 and are prevented from entering the pump 38 to jam or damage it. On the other hand, such items as dirt and lint will pass thru the filter 36 and be pumped to drain by the pump 38. This eliminates the tedious chore of having to clean lint and dirt from filter elements that will filter out lint and dirt. Also, the filter 36 will not become clogged with items such as string and especially lint that can completely obstruct fluid flow out of the casing. After several operations of the laundry appliance the cup and cover unit may be removed as described above and the trap emptied of the foreign articles by taking the cover 41 off of the cup 46.

The cup 46 contains three spaced openings 64 in the cup bottom 59 in order to cancel out the buoyancy of the cup and cover unit which is preferably made of a plastic such as solid polypropylene and thus prevents this unit from floating upwardly into possible contact with the rotating drum 22. Such openings, of course, might not be necessary if the cup and cover were made of a metal such as steel.

Having described our invention as related to the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, it is our intention that the invention be not limited by any of the details of description, unless otherwise specified, but rather be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as set out in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A trap for foreign articles in a liquid flow passage, comprising: a receptacle "forming a part of said passage; a removable cup in said receptacle having spaced inner and outer walls open at the top and joined at the bottom, said inner wall enclosing a space open at the top and bottom to form an inner passage; a removable cover extending across said top of said inner wall but spaced therefrom; a plurality of spaced outwardly projecting spurs on said cover, said cup having recesses engaged by said spurs for positioning the cover on the cup, said cover having a depending peripheral flange extending downwardly between said inner and outer walls, and said inner wall and said cover flange being corrugated to define a flow passage of undulating transverse cross section, said cup and cover thereby forming a liquid passage extending downwardly between said outer wall and said flange, upwardly between said flange and said inner wall and downwardly through said inner passage; and means releasably attaching said cover to said cup so that the cup and cover may be handled as a unit.

2. A trap for foreign articles in a liquid flow passage, comprising: a receptacle forming a part of said passage; a removable cup in said receptacle having spaced inner and outer walls open at the top and joined at the bottom, said inner wall enclosing a space open at the top and bottom to form an inner passage; and a removable cover extending across said top of said inner wall but spaced there from, said cover having a depending peripheral flange ex tending downwardly between said inner and outer walls,- said cup and cover thereby forming a liquid passage ex tending downwardly between said outer wall and said flange, upwardly between said flange and said inner wall and downwardly through said inner passage, said inner wall and said cover flange being corrugated to define a fiow passage of undulating transverse cross section.

3. Laundry apparatus, comprising: a casing for retaining laundry liquid; means defining a sump in said cas' ing; liquid passage means between said casing and sump; drain means from said sump, said casing, liquid passage means, sump and drain means forming a liquid flow path from said casing to said drain means by way of said sump; a trap member; means for removably mounting said trap member in said liquid passage member to extend into said sump, said trap member having an enclosing outer wall spaced from said sump and an enclosing inner wall spaced inwardly of said outer wall, each of said walls having a top and a bottom; means joining said inner and outer wall bottoms to provide a trap between said walls, said inner wall defining an enclosed space open at the top and the bottom and communicating directly at the bottom with said sump and thus with said drain means; a removable cover member normally extending across but spaced above said inner wall top, said cover member having a depending portion extending downwardly into said trap to an area beneath said inner wall top but above said wall joining; means; and means directing said liquid flow from said casing to between said outer wall and said depending por tron, said liquid flow thereby being directed by said de-.

pending portion from said casing to between said depend-. mg portion and said outer wall toward said wall joining;

means at the bottom of said space, then in r ve 10w;

5 6 from said trap to between said depending portion and said 1,369,113 2/ 1921 Kefier 2105 32 X inner wall top and again in reverse flow over said inner 1,677,501 7/1928 Stone et a1 210172 X Wail top and into said sump by way of said inner wall en- 2,669,254 2/ 1954 Mork 210-532 X closed space, both said inner wall and depending por- 2,900,080 8/ 1959 Raczynskiet a1. 210532 X tion being undulated to define a flow passage of undulat- 5 3,042,210 7/1962 Hattori 210163 ing transverse cross section. FOREIGN PATENTS References Cited by the Examiner 1,167,992 1 /1953 Franc UNITED STATES PATENTS 309,168 6/1933 125,322 4/1872 Mott 210-163 X 10 REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Primary Examiner. 128,138 6/1872. Gouch 210163 X 149 4 9 4 1 74 Lewis 210-163 X HERBERT MARTIN, Examiner- 

2. A TRAP FOR FOREIGN ARTICLES IN A LIQUID FLOW PASSAGE, COMPRISING: A RECEPTACLE FORMING A PART OF SAID PASSAGE; A REMOVABLE CUP IN SAID RECEPTACLE HAVING SPACED INNER AND OUTER WALLS OPEN AT THE TOP AND JOINED AT THE BOTTOM, SAID INNER WALL ENCLOSING A SPACE UPON AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM TO FORM AN INNER PASSAGE; AND A REMOVABLE COVER EXTENDING ACROSS SAID TOP OF SAID INNER WALL BUT SPACED THEREFROM, SAID COVER HAVING A DEPENDING PERIPHERAL FLANGE EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY BETWEEN SAID INNER AND OUTER WALLS, SAID CUP AND COVER THEREBY FORMING A LIQUID PASSAGE EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY BETWEEN SAID OUTER WALL AND SAID FLANGE, UPWARDLY BETWEEN SAID FLANGE AND SAID INNER WALL AND DOWNWARDLY THROUGH SAID INNER PASSAGE, SAID INNER WALL AND SAID COVER FLANGE BEING CORRUGATED TO DEFINE A FLOW PASSAGE OF UNDULATING TRANSVERSE CROSS SECTION. 